Southwestern Chicken & Barley Soup

Total Time: 1 hr 35 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 5 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 green pepper, diced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 7 cups water
• 2 low-sodium chicken bouillon cubes
• 2 chicken breast halves, skin removed
• 1 1/2 cups canned diced tomatoes
• 1 ear of corn
• 1 (14 ounce) can black beans
• 2 ancho chilies
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup barley
• 1 medium yellow zucchini or 1 medium green zucchini, cut in to medium cubes

Recipe

• 1 saute onion, garlic, celery and green pepper in olive oil in soup pot.
• 2 once onions are soft (about 5 minutes) add water, bouillon, tomatoes, black beans and chicken to pot and bring to a low simmer.
• 3 (use chicken broth instead of water and bouillon if you prefer).
• 4 remove corn kernels from cob and add to soup.
• 5 add whole ancho chilies to pot for a minute, just to get the dried chili to soften a bit.
• 6 remove from pot.
• 7 tear off stalk and remove seeds.
• 8 dice chilies into small pieces and return to simmering pot.
• 9 let soup simmer 20 minutes and remove chicken from pot.
• 10 shred or dice chicken and return to pot.
• 11 add barley and let soup simmer for 25 minutes.
• 12 add zucchini and let simmer an additional 25 minutes.